DESIGN: Rehanging Chads in "The Voting Booth Project"

At New York's Parsons School of Design till Nov. 15 is a rather timely exhibition called "The Voting Booth Project." Guest curated by Chee Pearlman of design consultancy Chee Co., with an exhibition design by Pentagram, the show features some 50 Votomatic voting booths —"the devices made infamous in the 2000 Presidential election in Florida," notes Parsons — reinterpreted by artists, architects and designers. And quite an illustrious roster it is, including David Byrne, Christo, Frank Gehry, Milton Glaser, Maira Kalman and Diane von Furstenberg. According to Parsons, "First put into use during the 1960s, the Votomatic is a portable, lightweight device — essentially an oversized briefcase — containing four screw-in legs and a series of fold-out flaps that connect to form the base of a voting cubicle designed to hold a punchcard ballot. Participating artists and designers were each given a booth and invited to respond to it however they wished in order to create their own personal, political or purely aesthetic statements." Leading this showcase is architect Robert A.M. Stern's frenzy of sideview mirrors. Also included in the PDF is designer Edwin Schlossberg's "Select One;"; a triumphant elephant by Pentagram's Michael Bierut; and Milton Glaser's "Fragile. Contains Democracy." Click here for more.